The sleeper places from Danang to Ha Noi were already fully booked, so I decided to miss the great view that should be somewhere along the train route, and I just booked a flight.
I booked the same Hoi An – Danang transfer and was taken to the station by some guy from the hostel, by motorbike. And it was my first and only trip in Vietnam on a motorbike without helmet! wow! The guy seemed to know less than I did about my bus.. I got a bit worried, but it did actually come, stop and take me 😉
Nguyen then picked me up in Ha Noi at the airport, we went home first and then back to the city, first for dinner and then drinks with some other CS people, I read the term “egg coffee” for the first time, and then we sat down at one of the tiny tables in front of some beer place in the backpacker’s area.
My host moved out of his apartment and in with a friend to give me more privacy – and I was very impressed by that not-so-vietnamese corner of the country! It was a very fancy new are consisting of high rise buildings with their own security and a mall underground.
In the morning I had to walk a bit to the bus station and then took the bus into the city center. I visited the temple of literature, some more pagodas and temples, the presidential palace and then, eventually, sat down on a square where kids were running around and playing and it was possible to rent inline skates, hoverboards, and so on.
In the evening we went back to the city and had food next to the lake, and then sat at some church square having ice cream.
The next day, early in the morning, we left to pick up the other 3 people (two guys from the US and the girlfriend of one of them, a girl from singapur) who wanted to come along on our trip to Halong bay. Nguyen drove – a different car this time. haha. Somewhere on the way, we stopped for breakfast – the usual soup stuff. I wanted to go to the bathroom.. walked in.. and didnt know where to look!
There was one toilet with a door. Not lockable.. but at least it had a door.. and when I went back out I was alone and dared to take a photo 😀
It’s the craziest public toilet I ever saw!
At Halong Bay, we had to ask to find the new port as it moved, but eventually we made it and got on a ship. We visited the caves, Nguyen bought drinks, then we got back on the boat and went on through the rocks to the floating market, village, whatever. We were told we could rent canoes there and so we did. We were almost alone as it was already quite late. Great! Coming back, the boat already waited for us, we hurried up and saw that Nguyen had bought more food. So we had sweet potatoes sitting on the top of the ship, while going back to the port.
On the way home, we stopped somewhere and had vietnamese hotpot! Instead of ordering beer one by one, they just put a whole box of beer next to our table and we could take a new one ourselves whenever we wanted!
The next day I did some more walking around the city, went to the market (boring..) bought weird market food (i think it contained meat..) and bought a few scarves. I also watched the water puppet theater and went to a hidden coffee for “the best” egg coffee with view over the lake and normal price. The entrance was very hidden, you had to go through a small passage and then up 3 floors. I decided to go on a day trip to perfume pagoda the next day, and wanted to book it from the oh so famous tour agency “the sinh tourist”. Google told me the address, I went there, and the street was FULL of agencies of (more or less) exactly the same name in the same colours! 🙂
It was just great! I think I found the right one and booked. Departure would be early in the morning.
In the evening I went to the CS meeting and everybody seemed very excited to speak english! I stayed too long for my direct bus to go.. The alternative would have been changing several times which would have taken more than an hour. But one of the CS guys suggested he could drive me to a station by scooter. He did, and as it was only maybe 2km from home, I decided to walk. On the way I bought a sandwich from a woman who spoke no english and first wanted to sell me a cup.. My “Banh mi” pronounciation was obviously not very good 😉
To her question what she should put on it I tried to signal “just go ahead” and I did get something in the end.. with some fatty meat which was the first thing I threw away. The rest was ok!
In the morning, the mini bus first picked up other people, then made a stop at some touri roadside restaurant (I refused to eat or shop) and then we seperated and got into the little boats. Our guide spoke terrible english, his favourite expression being “cuse me” … At the temple site, we learned that it’s not allowed to enter the temple if your shorts don’t cover the knees (well, nobody told me before, and I just went in until they kicked me out!), then we had lunch in a restaurant there (included in the price) and finally took the cable car up.
The pagoda was impressive, and there were hardly any people! It was the very last day of this years festival. Perfect! We walked around, took pictures and then went back down past all those tiny stalls selling religious stuff, souvenirs and snacks. The guide told us a few things, we bought different sweets, and made it back down to the boats.
Before getting off the boat, the group started discussing if the boat guy should get a tip. Clear “no” from my side, but I think they gave him some. In the end, I just got off while he kind of kept them telling them they must give him MORE! haha.. great.. i love it!
On the way back to Hanoi, I got our guide to let me get off near home instead of going into the city first: the place felt like the side of a highway, and the first thing i had to do was cross it. I made it 😉
And walked home to cook with Nguyen.
The last day, we went out for breakfast together, then – as it was raining – to a museum and then he took me to the airport for my flight back to HCMC.